Hello everyone, and welcome to another music article! This week, it’s time for another 80s Countdown. We’re diving back into this amazing decade, focusing on the year-end hits of each year! Let’s revisit the top 5 songs of 1981. I think this is the year we started moving out of the Disco era. Thank you to everyone who reads my articles! I truly enjoy writing for all of you. Dan is a great guy, and I love doing this for him. On piece of information. The countdowns that I am writing about are straight from the Billboard charts. From 1980-1984, Casey’s American Top 40, tabulated their own results and songs are in different orders. The show started using Billboard in 1985.
What was the biggest Box Office movie of 1981? The top was On Golden Pond and #1 was Raiders of the Lost Ark
As Casey Kasem used to say, “Now on with the countdown”.
#5 Who is Jessie?
THE SONG AND ARTIST: “Jessie’s Girl” By Rick Springfield
The hunk and heartthrob from the start of the 80’s decade. This actor/singer won me over with this awesome song. Didn’t realize until a wedding how much fun this is to dance to. This was his biggest song of the 17 that have hit the Top 40. My favorite song from him from the Tao album, “Celebrate Youth” and “Rock of Life”. This was the 5th biggest of 1981. I dare you not to sing along.
Fun Fact: His last name at birth: Springthorpe.
#4 A song from Lennon?
THE SONG AND ARTIST: “(Just Like) Starting Over” by John Lennon.
This would become, sadly, a posthumous hit for John Lennon, who was murdered in 1980. I heard about it back then, but I was only 10 and didn’t know the Beatles. What a tragedy, none of the less. As you all know, he started his career with Ringo and Paul and others as the Beatles.
The B side to the single record was “Kiss Kiss Kiss, with his wife, Yoko Ono.
Fact: He had another top 10 hit in 1984. That was called, “Nobody Told Me”.
#3 Who’s that lady?
THE SONG AND ARTIST: “Lady” By Kenny Rogers
This song stayed at #1 for 6 huge weeks and is a beautiful ballad. It became the first record of the 1980s to chart on all four of Billboard‘s singles charts – Country, Hot 100, Adult Contemporary and Hot Soul singles. On the Country chart it was his tenth #1 single. I think at 11 years old I was not really into ballads except the ones from Air Supply. I like this song now, however.
Fun Fact: The song, like many of Kenny’s 80s hits, was written by Lionel Richie
#2 Endless superstars!
THE SONG AND ARTIST: “Endless Love” By Diana Ross and Lionel Richie
Two songs present in the top 5 by the megastar Lionel Richie. This one is also written by Richie. This is huge movie song from the movie of the same name. NINE weeks at #1, what a run! The record became the best-selling single of Ross’ career and was her sixth and final number one single on the Billboard Hot 100 as a solo artist.
These two artists are pure magic and you can tell based on its longevity at the top. It was number 1 in 7 countries.
Here is a video from them and I hope you can enjoy this song.
Time for #1
If you follow along with Dan’s weekly 80s Countdown tweets on Twitter/X, you’ll know that he never reveals the top song. He gives away all the other 39 songs on the countdown. He doesn’t want to spoil the entire listening experience. So, without further ado…
And the number one song of 1981 on American Top 40:
#1. Here are the hints: It is a song about an actress. The song spent 9 non-consecutive weeks at #1. She has a raspy voice. Her son is a Real Estate agent. The actress does like the song. It was number 1 in 21 countries.
THE SONG AND ARTIST: Did you guess “Bette Davis Eyes” by Kim Carnes?
It won the 1982 Grammy Awards for Record of the Year and Song of the Year. The music video was directed by Australian film director Russell Mulcahy who also directed a video by Duran Duran. It was interrupted after 5 weeks for just one week by “Stars on 45”. Carnes was not a fan of the version from JOJO Siwa and neither was I. I included the video so you can hear this amazing song.
Thanks for learning and reading about the biggest songs of 1981. I will be back next week to chat about the end of 1982!
In the meantime, let me know what you think of this and ideas for a topic! And if you are on Twitter/X, be sure to join our live tweets every Friday night at 9pm Eastern/6pm Pacific using the hashtag #80sCountdown to be part of the fun!
Nick
